Becker's Hospital Review

175 Executive Briefing Founded in Japan in 1951, Nihon Kohden is the leading manufacturer, developer and distributor of medical electronic equipment, with subsidiaries in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The company's products are now used in more than 120 countries, and it is the largest supplier of electroencephalography products worldwide. A pioneer in transformational healthcare technology, Nihon Kohden has envisioned, designed and produced revolutionary devices, such as pulse oximeters, arrhythmia analysis, low-invasive blood volume monitoring and wireless patient monitoring. In the U.S., the company is a trusted source for patient monitoring, sleep assessment, neurology and cardiology instrumentation solutions, and has been rated No. 1 in patient monitoring or telemetry for 42 consecutive quarters (MD Buyline). Q: How does the HiQ system advance the use of wireless patient monitoring in the hospital setting? HD: HiQ advances the area of wireless monitoring by being uniquely interoperable and bandwidth preserving. It can connect to and share bandwidth with all of the other devices on the hospital's network. Smart algorithms send data back and forth, permitting seamless interaction with the hospital's EMR and allowing continuous flow of data from intake through discharge. Numerous gateway solutions for HL7, pagers and remote reviewers ensure that healthcare practitioners get the data at right place at the right time in the right way. This seamless and secure flow of data can help boost patient safety and workflow efficiencies by remotely updating physicians and nurses to patients' changing conditions in real time, thereby supporting practitioners' decision-making abilities. Real-time data flow into the EMR allows nurses to spend less time charting and more time caring for patients. Q: How does the HiQ system handle dead spots in the hospital? HD: We have incorporated a smart backfill capability to ensure data integrity even in the instance of dead spots. If a patient ever gets into a dead spot in the hospital or if there is breakage in the Wi-Fi connection, the system is smart enough to realize that there was a gap in coverage. When the device comes back in range, it seamlessly backfills the data, helping prevent data loss during the patient's episode of care. The system also has very little throughput, so it doesn't occupy a lot of data, and its remote telemetry devices keep patients safe with 18 to 20 hours of battery life. Q: You said all of the HiQ monitors are full-featured. What do you mean by that? HD: Hospitals purchasing the HiQ system do not have to compromise features and safety to save costs. We build all of our systems according to a "premium-as-standard" product philosophy, which ensures that all parameters, waveforms, alarms and trends are included in base configuration – including on all wearable and transport monitors. The system is designed to keep every patient safe, even when acuity changes, no matter where he or she is in the hospital. Q: What are your customers telling you about the HiQ system? Have you had any early users? HD: Prior to the October 2017 launch date, we have piloted a number of test deployments with potential customers, utilizing the Wi-Fi infrastructure "as-is" at the hospital sites. The feedback from these pilots has been very positive, with the backfill feature being most notably highlighted. Q: How does the HiQ system fit into the company's overall business and market strategy? HD: Nihon Kohden's HiQ system is emblematic of the evolution we are seeing in the healthcare industry today. Traditionally, medical devices have tended to be isolated products that have a specific function to perform. But over time, they've become smart products that can communicate, not only performing the functions they are supposed to perform but also communicating back and forth with other devices. We as a company are part of an industry transition that is moving beyond basic device interoperability to the ability to deliver predictive and preventative health. By predictive and preventative health, we mean using all of these medical devices that produce and share lots of data and eventually creating value out of the data as well. In this light, we see ourselves evolving into a medical informatics company in the future. Nihon Kohden's smart devices, like the HiQ system, are data acquisition and management platforms that can provide meaningful information to hospitals so that they can ultimately achieve predictive and preventative health. Our ultimate aim as a company is to provide our customers the tools necessary for them to gain actionable information in the context of their hospital and the population. n Our HiQ system can actually coexist with other devices on the hospital's network and share that bandwidth.

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